Bottle carrier



J. E. MILLER BOTTLE CARRIER Jqhe 4, 1946.

Filed June 10, 1944 Patented June 4, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

vention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the empty carrier;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the carrier and associate group of bottles in an intermediate stage of application of the carrier to the bottles; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail.

In the drawing It indicates a main body plate of any suitable material, perforated by perforations I l spaced in accordance with the usual bottle spacing in common shipping containers and of a diameter permitting projection of the bottle necks therethrough. Most conveniently, two parallel rows of three perforations each are provided so that the carrier may be utilized for a group of six bottles.

At one end of each longitudinal series of perforations is hinged a spring retainer composed of two substantially parallel wires I2, I2, each kinked at points intermediate its length adjacent the perforations II, as indicated at I3, so as to be capable of snapping over the mouths of the bottles and springing under the bottle shoulders immediately subtending the mouth. The outer ends of wires I2, I2 are secured together by spot welding or other suitable welding means and bent to form a latch I4 cooperative with the adjacent edge of plate III.

Plate I is provided with a suitable handle I5 on which the plate is balanced.

The operator, grasping handle I 5, may project the plate downwardly over a group of six bottles in the usual shipping container so that the perforations will pass over the mouths of the bottles and downwardly on their necks thus displacing the retainers I2 upwardly, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The operator may then swing the retainers downwardly over the mouths of the bottles, the portions I3 thereof first springing outwardly and then inwardly under the bottle mouth, whereupon the group of bottles may be readily extracted from the shipping container and carried to any desired point.

It will, of course, be understood that the retainers I2 may be so attached to the plate It the wires I2 will merely yield laterally to permit the portions I3 to spring first outwardly and then inwardly to retain the bottles in place relative to the plate I0, but the construction illustrated is preferable because the operator, before extracting the bottles from the carrier, may free the latch end of the retainer from the plate and swing the same upwardly to withdraw the retainer from the bottle necks more readily than he could force the retainer wires apart sufiiciently to release a bottle.

In order to facilitate storage and shipping of the carrier,.handle I5 is formed of wire, generally U-shaped, with its legs threaded through perforation II! in plate II], and withdrawal is prevented by the laterally deflected tips I 5. At the base of the U, the arms are deflected, as shown at I5", and the plate distorted at the perforations, as indicated at I0", so that the handle may be moved to the storage position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

I claim as my invention:

1. A bottle carrier comprising a main body plate, formed at a plurality of points with perforations arranged in longitudinal series and capable of freely passing bottle necks in a common spaced relationship, and a spring retainer associated with each longitudinal series of said perforations, comprising substantially parallel spring wires kinked at points intermediate the wire length and immediately adjacent the perforations in such manner that the bottle necks may be projected between the wires at the kinked points and the kinked portions of the wires will spring under the neck shoulders when said wires lie substantially parallel with the plate, and a hinge connection between one end of each retainer structure and the body plate whereby the free end of the retainer structure may be swung away from the plane of the body plate.

2. A bottle carrier comprising a main body plate, formed at a plurality of points with perforations arranged in longitudinal series and capable of freely passingbottle necks in a common spaced relationship, and a spring retainer associated with each longitudinal series of said perforations, comprising substantially parallel spring wires kinked at points intermediate the wire length and immediately adjacent the perforations in such manner that the bottle necks may be projected between the wires at the kinked points and the kinked portions of the wires will spring under the neck shoulders when said wires lie substantially parallel with the plate, each pair of wires being hinged at one end to the body plate, so that the free ends of said pairs may be swung away from the plane of the body plate.

JOHN E. MILLER. 

